Volume 138, Issue 4

This paper investigates the initial steps in the diachronic development of the German zu- infinitive as a complement. So far, several alternative scenarios have been proposed to account for this development. They will be first examined in more detail and then tested on corpus data from the Middle High German and the Early New High German periods. The data comprises a set of complement taking predicates pertaining to the semantic field of manipulation and persuasion, e. g. bitten ›ask‹ and befehlen ›command‹. The corpus study will show that none of the existing scenarios individually can account for the development of the zu- infinitive as a complement of the matrix verbs under investigation. Hence, a new scenario will be proposed. Namely, the development of the zu- infinitive will be seen as a complex diachronic process consisting of several interwoven paths; each of the individual paths stems from a different diachronic source and unfolds in a particular linguistic context.

In spite of growing interest in recent years, the syntax of Middle Low German (MLG) remains an extremely underresearched area. In light of recent research showing early North West Germanic languages to be partial null subject languages (Axel 2005; Walkden 2014; Kinn 2016; Volodina/Weiß 2016), the question arises where MLG is positioned in this respect. The present article presents novel data showing that MLG had referential null subjects (RNS) and can be classified as a partial null subject language. Based on a quantitative and qualitative corpus analysis of their syntactic distribution, we argue that two types of RNS must be distinguished in MLG, null topics in SpecCP and null clitics on C.

The emotions of novel characters are first of all linguistic artworks. The establishing of these pieces of art is an aesthetic process that must be subordinated to the overall concept of a novel. This concept doesn’t evolve from the represented emotions ( histoire ), but rather from the representation of emotions ( discours ). That’s why the telling of emotions constitutes the primary object of the present study. In order to achieve certain effects, this telling of emotions makes use of narrative techniques, rhetorical devices, linguistic peculiarities, moral norms and receptive-aesthetic strategies. The functions of the representations of emotions prevent the presented emotions from being considered as reflections of commonplace emotions or from being offset against emotional theoretical positions. How­ever, the literary findings turn out – at least partially – as compatible with cultural studies.

1730 saw the publication of a re-telling of the 1456 prose novel about the fairy Melusine. This new version dominated the book market until 1800 and decisively influenced the further development of the tale. We know that not only Goethe, who read the story as a young man, but even the founder of 20 th century analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, owned copies of these now rare prints. But did Jung actually read the novel in his precious collectorʼs item? And if so, how did he interpret it? Jung’s copy of the book and the 34 references to Melusine in his oeuvre can throw light on these questions. Herzlicher Dank für die sorgfältige Anfertigung eines muttersprachlich gedachten Resümees geht an Frau Rosemarie Allemann, Wettingen.